A MAN whose grandfather fought in the Battle of the Somme is hoping to trace the family of one of his Darwen comrades to deliver a long overdue letter.

David Stearne, who lives in Kent, was looking through documents belonging to his late grandfather Henry Stearne when he discovered an unopened letter meant for the family of Christopher Rostron.

Rifleman Christopher, who lived in Springfield Street, Darwen, with his wife Elizabeth, was killed in the Battle of the Somme on Saturday, July 15, 1916.

The letter found by Mr Stearne had been written by two of Christopher's comrades in the King's Royal Rifle Corps Lance Corporals Frank S Jones and Tom J Bradley to his parents describing how he died an heroic death.

Mr Stearne said: "I am hoping to identify any living relatives of Christopher Rostron.

"Amongst the photos, papers and other possessions I found was a poignant little letter describing the manner of his death, which we now know to be from a machine-gun bullet, and how much he was respected by the other members of his corps.

"Somehow the letter had never been posted and was still amongst my grandfather's possessions.

"Several scenarios have gone through my head, such as he was asked to post it and forgot or was unable, he found the letter but did not mail it on, it was on the body of another soldier he had to legitimately search, it had been lost and found only years later when it was far too late to send, and many other such fanciful notions.

"However, as my grandfather died many years ago, in January 1955, I will never know why he had this letter.

This being the upcoming 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, I felt the least I could do would be to try to trace any surviving descendant, to whom I could pass on the original little letter."

The letter says: "My chum and I thought it was the least we could do to write to you to express our great sorrow and deep sympathy with you in such a sad bereavement and hope it will comfort you a little to know that he died one of the most heroic deaths that I have seen.

"He died very quietly and just looked as though he was asleep.

"We feel his loss very much as he was one of the best and most generous chaps we had and the rest of the platoon have asked me to express their deep sympathy to you."

Anyone with information should contact Mr Stearne on 07734 717210.